Systems architecture

About: Systems architecture is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 17612 publications have been published within this topic receiving 283719 citations. The topic is also known as: system architecture.

A multi-agent decision support system for stock trading

Abstract: A distributed problem solving system can be characterized as a group of individual cooperating agents running to solve common problems. As dynamic application domains continue to grow in scale and complexity, it becomes more difficult to control the purposeful behavior of agents, especially when unexpected events may occur. This article presents an information and knowledge exchange framework to support distributed problem solving. From the application viewpoint the article concentrates on the stock trading domain; however, many presented solutions can be extended to other dynamic domains. It addresses two important issues: how individual agents should be interconnected so that their resources are efficiently used and their goals accomplished effectively; and how information and knowledge transfer should take place among the agents to allow them to respond successfully to user requests and unexpected external situations. The article introduces an architecture, the MASST system architecture, which supports dynamic information and knowledge exchange among the cooperating agents. The architecture uses a dynamic blackboard as an interagent communication paradigm to facilitate factual data, business rule, and command exchange between cooperating MASST agents. The critical components of the MASST architecture have been implemented and tested in the stock trading domain, and have proven to be a viable solution for distributed problem solving based on cooperating agents.

Precision architecture

Abstract: The processor component of the Hewlett-Packard Precision Architecture system is described. The architecture's goals, how the architecture addresses the spectrum of general-purpose user information processing needs, and some architectural design tradeoffs are examined. Extendibility and longevity features are considered. >

Integrating architecture description languages with a standard design method

Abstract: Software architecture descriptions are high-level models of software systems. Some researchers have proposed special-purpose architectural notations that have a great deal of expressive power but are not well integrated with common development methods. Others have used mainstream development methods that are accessible to developers, but lack semantics needed for extensive analysis. We describe an approach to combining the advantages of these two ways of modeling architectures. We present two examples of extending UML, an emerging standard design notation, for use with two architecture description languages, C2 and Wright. Our approach suggests a practical strategy for bringing architectural modeling into wider use, namely by incorporating substantial elements of architectural models into a standard design method.

Integrated control methodologies for road vehicles

Abstract: This paper considers the scope, methodologies and architectures for the design and development of interacting control systems in road vehicles. The increasing use of electronic controls leads inevitably to an increase in overall system complexity. Given the time and economic constraints of the modern automotive industry, it is not feasible to synthesise and validate the full set of vehicle controls in the form of a unified and centralized controller. On the other hand a fully decentralized approach to control system development and operation will induce performance limitations from un-modelled or unexpected interactions; at worst, such interactions can cause instability and loss of function. There is now increasing pressure to achieve control coordination whilst maintaining a modular approach to the overall system design. With this in mind, the paper provides a framework to review current practice in integrated vehicle control, assesses recent developments in control integration methodologies that are most relevant to the vehicle application, and formulates an enhanced multi-layer architecture that includes explicit coordination functionality. Overall emphasis is placed on the role of control system architecture, the resulting flow of control information and the implications for control system design. An example from handling dynamics is presented, demonstrating the viability of new and flexible approaches. In conclusion a number of outstanding research problems are highlighted.

RF Mesh Systems for Smart Metering: System Architecture and Performance

Abstract: This paper describes the system architecture and the performance evaluation of a Radio Frequency (RF) mesh based system for smart energy management applications in the Neighborhood Area Network (NAN). The RF mesh system presented in this paper leverages the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band at 902-928 MHz and is based on frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS). The performance evaluation is based on a geographical model of the deployment scenario and implements geographical routing combined with appropriate radio propagation models. The results show that the system is able to handle Smart Metering communication traffic with a high reliability provided potential coverage gaps are properly filled with repeater nodes. The proposed methodology allows the identification of coverage gaps, which may cause bottlenecks in the network, prior to deployment and therefore supports efficient and reliable deployment and operation of the system.